After big first half, Lynx held on against Chicago for another win

"Really good game for us," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said after her team beat Chicago 79-67 on Saturday at Target Center.

"As the top two offensive teams, field goal percentage-wise, and the top two defensive teams, field-goal percentage wise, it was a hard game. Both teams were very, very physical. I thought that Chicago played well. They took us out of our stuff."

Especially in the first seven minutes of the third quarter when the SKy outscored the home team 12-0 to get within five points.

"We knew they were going to be physical when they came out," Reeve said. "I thought we had some decent looks, we just didn't make shots. Next thing, one thing leads to another and we're lucky they didn't go crazy on us. We were able to keep it manageable.

"IThere were times where we didn't respond to their physicality and we didn't look for second, third and fourth options. We do that. We kinda get the ball on one side and stay there. We limit our options and then Chicago becomes a very good team. We swing in and make the easy play, or we play off of our defense. We just weren't getting that in those first six minutes."

Maya Moore finally broke the scoring drought with a two-pointer from the right baseline and a three-pointer from the top of the key.

"We fought through, which is really important," Reeve said, "and the first half was obviously considerably better than the second half. In the end, we kept with our game plan, which was fairly well executed."

The Lynx scored 27 points in the first quarter, 24 in the second to take a 51-34 lead but were heled to 28 points in the second half.

"[Reserve guard] Sydney Carter is a very good player, difficult to contain but I felt we did some good things on the perimeter trying to keep her touches more difficult. I thought we succeeded in that area."

Carter scored only four points. She was recently signed by the Sky to replaced high-scoring guard Epiphanny Prince, out with a fractured right foot.

ETC.

* Lindsay Whalen had a season-high 29 points against Phoenix -- the Lynx's next opponent on June 15 -- then had only 14 points the next two games. Then on Saturday, she has 25 points.

* The Lynx forced a season-high 24 turnovers against the Sky. They had been forcing only 15.3 per game, which ranked ninth in the WNBA. ... Maya Moore tied a career-high with five steals.

* Reeve's team entered Saturday's game as the best defensive team in the league, holding opponents to 38.4 percent. The Sky finished only slightly higher at 40 percent.

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Roman Augustoviz spends Minnesota's winters covering college hockey, specifically the Gophers, and other University of Minnesota sports. During the summer, he writes about the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, with a dose of U sports sprinkled in. Follow @RomanStrib on Twitter. E-mail Roman.